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Greeting Pathfinders. My name is Devan (Brian W.), and I'm a human urban ranger. My story begins when I found a Harrow card amongst my lockpicks. On the back was written a note about Gaedren Lamm, the bastard who got my fiancee Julena hooked on shiver. Naturally, I went to the address and met several other like-minded individuals. Amongst was Doc (JJ), a human witch who just survived his own brush with a shiver overdose; Hulk (Brian Z.), a dwarf barbarian who's nephew was kidnappped by Lamm; and Cuthbert (Mike), a human cleric of Desna who was tormented by Lamm as a child.
Our host was a Varisian fortuneteller named Zellara. Zellara has her own tale of woe as Gaedren Lamm stole her Harrow deck and murdered her son when he attempted to retrieve it. She reveals that she has learned that Lamm is laired a at the Old Fishery on Westpier. Naturally, we headed straight there to bring Lamm to justice (well, after Doc tried to proposition Zellara). Taking him out would certainly help on my application to the Sable Company. On the way, Cuthbert sang a song about the days of the week.
I started to check out the main door and got my lockpicks out to enter stealthy when Hulk just busted the door down and started shouting for Lamm. A guard dog started barking. I tried to calm him down, but Cuthbert mercilessly killed the dog. Hulk barreled into the next room trampling an orphan in the process. A gnome was hiding amongst the orphans and ordered them to attack. I knocked out one of the children and the rest scattered as we took out their gnome taskmaster.
The next room has an anoying half-orc that incessantly giggled lording over some more orphans. I had to knock out a second orphan when he too ordered them to attack while the others took the half-breed out. We then found a human hiding in an office. Hulk and I quickly rendered him unconscious and tied him. Once revived, we questioned him about Lamm's whereabouts, but he refused in spite of our threats so I knocked him out again.
Having cleared the fishery, we made our way down the dock to a rickety ship in the back. Cuthbert slipped on the deck, but recovered and pretended like he met to do it all along. Hulk scouted the ship, narrowly avoiding a collapsing section of the rotten deck before heading to the aft. Inside, we faced a spider that I subdued before heading below deck. There we faced four more spiders, which we each dispatched on our own save Cuthbert who needed help from Hulk.
I found a concealled door in the ship's hold that lead to a crawlspace under the fishery. We all made our way across to a door on the far side, although Cutherbert crawled hugging the deck and began crying as a jigsaw shark began nuddging the deck. That caused him to hurry along.
The crawlspace led to Lamm's lair. Hulk and I took the fight to Lamm while Cuthbert and Doc provided spell support. Lamm's mistreated crocodile Gobblegut showed as between him and Lamm's dagger, I was heavily wounded, but by then so was Lamm. In its fury, Gogglegut turned on Lamm and bit off his leg. Cuthbert and Hulk were forced to put the crocodile out its misery.
We looted Lamm's office and found a hatbox that intrigued Hulk. Open opening it, we found Zellara's head, and it was evident she has been dead for weeks! What is going on?
I was trained along with the other berserkers at my clan. I was a bit too wild for the trainers though, so I was sent to live with some extended family over in Korvosa. Along the way, I traveled along with some Varisians for a bit. They were likable enough as long as I had a good hold on my coin pouch. Anyway, a shoanti joined up with us one day, he was out on some sort of coming of age thing. But the area was pretty dangerous, so he traveled with us for a bit. Nice lad, I learned a few choice combat tricks off him. I intend to try them all out eventually.
So, city life was boring, but working as a bouncer suited me well, and paid pretty good. Recently though, things turned a bit more troubling. Seems when my brother got to the city along with his trading caravan, he managed to lose sight of his nephew at the market. And never found him. Frantic with worry, he managed to find me and enlist my help to find him.
I've been scouring this city for the better part of two weeks, and it was looking bad. But then I finally caught a break. Somebody left me a note on a weird card, that they had information on the boy's whereabouts. So I show up at this place, and some fortune teller gives us a sob story, and also the location of some Gaedren Lamm, who supposedly kidnapped my nephew. There were a few other people there too, and they all had various grudges against this guy. We didn't need to wait around, and so off we went.
We took out Lamm's place. looks like he had a lot of kids here, kidnapped or wherever he got them. We took out Lamm's thugs, got past the traps and met up with the scoundrel in his basement. I took it right to him, I wasn't wasting any time with that punk. Irony shines bright this day, just when I was about to inflict the killing blow, the shark decides to take a liking to the taste of Lamm's leg and finishes him off. Good riddance.
So we look through the guy's office, and I open this box. It has the fortune teller's head. Fantastic. Who were we talking to back at the woman's house then? I close the box up, and hand it off to the others. Then I let them look the rest of the office over while I wait outside. Just making sure the shark didn't come back looking for seconds. No really, I didn't need any fresh air or anything.
Now, I'm just hoping they hurry up, I gotta get back upstairs and see if my nephew is up there with them other kids.
After defeating Lamm, we rounded up the children including Hulk's nephew and escorting them to their rightful homes or the orphanage. As we were selling off Lamm's possessions, we learned from the shopkeeper that a broach we found belonged to Queen Ileosa. By this time, there was rioting in the streets as King Eodred II has passed away, with unkind people calling Queen Ileosa names like "usurper" and "whore."
Hulk wanted to join in the rioting, but Cuthbert grabbed him by the ear and dragged him to Castle Korvosa. A band of hellknights were guarding the entrance, and was throwing his weight around in denying us entrance. Eventually he stopped messing with us and granted us audiance (sans weapons) with the queen.
The queen's handmaiden, bodyguard, and companion Sabina Merrin was on hand during the audience with Queen Ileosa, who is even more beutiful up close than she is from afar. The queen thanked us for returning the broach and offered us a job with the Korvosan Guard to help restore the peace. We accepted, and she had four hellknights escort us to Citadel Volshyenek to meet with Field Marhsall Cressida Kroft.
En route to the citadel, we were faced with a serious of obstacles, from mad poets, rioting mobs, a rampagin otyugh, and imps dueling with pseudodragons.
We also met Grau Soldado, a drunken former guardsman who thought he knew Cuthbert and invited us all to free drinks, which Hulk happily accepted on our behalf. Grau was a watch sergeant and field marshall Cressida Kroft served under him. He rambled on about how Sabina and the queen's people killed his mentor Vencarlo Orisini over some argument he had with the queen. He also aparently had a thing for Sabina and claims she and Queen Ileosa are lovers.
I think maybe I had a bit too much to drink mys....
We received word that the queen would like to speak with us again. Grau vowed to sober up and rejoin the guard.
When we arrived back at Castle Korvosa, Hulk tried to hit on Sabina, but she turns him down. He assumed its because he's a dwarf, although given what Grau insinuated about Sabina and the queen, I suspect that's not the reason.
Queen Ileosa said that some guards had gone rogue under the leadership of Verik Vancaskerkin who had been "infecting" the guards against her. They were held up at a butcher's shop named All the World's Meat. She requested us not to kill the guards and Verik in particular.
I cased the place in the guise of a customer. They were kind of rude and were giving away free meat they said was beef, but it did not look like any beef I've ever eaten.
We decided to retire at Citadel Volshyenek for the night and return the next morning. Cuthbert headed in, but they said they are closed. When he asked to speak to Verik, they played dumb.
Hulk then barged in and leapt up onto the counter, which creaked under his weight. Realizing the time to talk had ended, Cuthbert attacked the doorman. Three more renegade guardsmen joined in the fight, but they are no match for us (I personally felled three of them). Cuthbert fell during the skirmish, however, but Doc patched him up with a healing potion. Doc then locked the door behind us as Hulk tied up the surviving renegade guard who was subdued by Doc's sleep spell rather than by force of arms.
Hulk then opened the door to a backroom where another man was chopping up meat. "Are you Verik?" asked Hulk.
"No," said the man, at which point Hulk promptly slammed the door.
By now I had seen enough to identify what the meat really was--people! We headed back in and confronted the butcher. He said that this was his shop before the guards took over and forced him to work for them. Cuthbert confirmed that he is being truthful.
We headed upstairs and found a man who identified himself as Verik (he's quite a handsome fellow). He said he wasn't involved in what his men were doing, but I told him that he was still responsible since he was in charge. He surrendered peacefully without a fight. However, a dagger on the table turned into a snake, which Doc dispatched with a magical bolt from his wand after I softened it up with my glaive.
We returned with Verik to Citadel Volshyenek where Cressida took him into cusstody. She had new information reguarding an ambassador from Cheliax named Darvayne Gios Amprei who was plotting to undermine the Korvosan economy. The ambassador liked to frequent a den of vice named Eel's End, run by a man named Devargo Barvasi. Cressida though he might have dirt on the ambassador and wanted us to find out what he knows. We planned to resupply and then check back in with her before heading out.
Man, why did those losers have to go and shut down All the World's Meat like that? It was my favorate place to eat!
We headed to Eel's End Pier where five ships were docked (Eel's End, Goldenhawk, Twin Tigers, House of Clouds, and Dragon's, Breath) each cattering to a different vice. Hulk wanted to head straight towards Eel's End to join with the drunken revelers, but Cuthbert reminded him we have business to attend to before pleasure.
We started with the Dragon's Breath, a disgusting drug den filled with mind-numbing smoke. Cuthbert conversed with a guard where we can find Devargo, but he claimed not to know where he is. This prompted Doc to expose himself forcing us to quickly leave before we get into any more trouble.
Next, we investigated the Twin Tigers gambling den. The pit boss said Devargo was not on this boat. Doc played some dice and made a nice 15 gp profit.
After collecting Doc's winnings, we headed over to Eel's End. We found Devargo's throne room in the captain's cabin where he kept a caged pseudodragon as a pet. We told him we came for some leverage on Ambassador Amprei, but when we asked Devargo what he wanted in exchange, he headed below deck and sent six guards to attack us!
Doc quickly droped half of the guards with a sleep spell. Hulk and I finished off the rest as Cuthbert rescued the pseudodragon. It's name was Majenko and it decided to join our band.
We followed Devargo below deck and were assaulted by an ettercap and four dream spiders, all of which Hulk and I easily took care of. We then found Devargo's bed chamber which he apparently shared with a giant spider. Hulk brought down the spider, but Devargo downed a potion and vanished from sight. We found some incriminating letters involving Ambassador Amprei, but we could not provoke Devargo into showing himself inspite our taunts and inneundo about him and the spider.
We continued to loot the Eel's End. After Hulk found a secret compartment containing some valuables, Devargo finally showed himself and we put him down with Doc delivering the final blow. We found a shiver lab which we destroyed.
We returned with the letters to Field Marshall Kroft, who rewarded us for obtaining them and dealing with Devargo with gold and metals designating us as champions of Korvosa. She promised to contact us later when she has more work. Doc pondered out loud how much we can sell the metals for before we are even out of the room.
Not long after, while having breakfast, we are approached by a messenger who said Field Marshall Kroft had another job for us. We agree to come see her at once just as soon as Hulk was finished eating as none of us wanted to come in between him and his food.
Field Marshall Kroft revealed that Queen Ileosa has named the alleged murdered of King Eodred II as the artist Trinia Sabor. The field marshall wanted us to apprehend the girl before the mob got her hands on her so that she will at least be granted a trial. The hellknights were busy patrolling the streets attempting to keep order leaving us to apprehend Trinia.
We headed to her tenament in Shingles, were a lot of young people seemed to live (likely students of the university). We got directions to her flat, but there was no answer upon knokcing. After careful *ahem* investigation, I found that the door was not locked. We entered the cramped one-room apartment and Hulk immediately raided the kitchen area.
We found Trinia sleeping there, but when Hulk went to wake her, his hand passed through her. I then heard noise outside--she was running away on the rooftops. Doc, Hulk, and myself pursued her while Cuthbert returned to street level to give chase. Doc quickly outpaced Hulk and myself by finding a couple shortcuts and put Trinia to sleep with his magic. We tied her up and fed her a potion of invisibility to slip pass the mob back to Citadel Volshyenek.